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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23145148">come crashing in like a wildfire (left in awe of you)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bytheseas/pseuds/bytheseas'>bytheseas</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, Hopeful Ending, M/M, One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:07:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>924</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23145148</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bytheseas/pseuds/bytheseas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>If he’s honest with himself, he knows it wouldn’t have mattered if he had known for TK even less than a day -- the tears would come just the same.</p><p>There’s just something about him.</p><p>(Carlos's pov for the hospital scene and what comes after)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carlos Reyes/TK Strand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>132</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>come crashing in like a wildfire (left in awe of you)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Here's my tiny contribution to the 911 Lone Star fandom -- a show which I've known for less than a week but love a whole lot.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Carlos wants to wait a while before going to the hospital -- to give TK’s family some time, but he can’t seem to help himself from showing up not long after the incident.   He fidgets as he waits for the woman at the front desk to pull up TK’s room and floor number. His breath catches as he hits the number on the elevator. There’s a nervous kind of sickness in the pit of his stomach.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He just needs to see TK -- to see how he is; to see that he’s alive</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Captain Strand is sitting by TK’s bed when Carlos makes it to the room, and Carlos pauses, takes a little step back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maybe he shouldn’t be here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He can feel his eyes filling with tears, and he avoids the urge to wipe them away, hanging on some foolish hope that maybe he can hold them in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>All of this for a boy he barely knows.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(If he’s honest with himself, he knows it wouldn’t have mattered if he had known for TK even less than a day -- the tears would come just the same.)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There’s just something about him.  There's been a pull he’s felt since the first day he saw TK, that he just hasn’t been able to shake -- like he’s supposed to be with him, and around him.  He doesn’t know how to describe it better than that, not yet.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The captain notices Carlos and turns to him, and asks him if he would like to have some time, and Carlos has to force the words out.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to impose.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I think he’d appreciate it.  I know I would.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Strand’s hand on his back almost does him in, the gentle pat, like he </span>
  <em>
    <span>knows</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and Carlos wonders if he knew before.  He has a feeling he didn’t.   </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He definitely knows now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Carlos sits by TK’s bed and he runs a hand through his soft hair.  He rubs circles into his arm with his thumb, holding him, feeling the warmth -- still here, alive.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Paul’s hand on his shoulder surprises him, and then settles him, and with TK’s family surrounding him, Carlos holds on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It feels weird, sitting across from TK, drinking smoothies, after everything that happened.  It feels even weirder with TK avoiding the subject, and talking about everything but what they’ve both just been through. </span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>For a while, Carlos lets him ramble on, and then he calls him on it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(He’s not really a patient man, when it comes down to it)</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When I saw you in that hospital bed not knowing if you’d ever wake up again I had all these feelings...strong feelings, which is crazy because I still barely know you. I'm just confused. What are we? Are we even a we?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Maybe it’s all him -- all in his head, this connection and pull he feels to the man across from him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>TK’s words seem to confirm it:  “Honestly I have no idea Carlos.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have no idea.  Yeah, that’s it,” He can’t help but sound frustrated, but the feeling dissipates somewhat when TK explains further.  Maybe he’s expecting too much from a man who just got shot -- who has been through a fair amount of trauma in a short amount of time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>TK asks him if he’s upset and Carlos says it’s not the end of the world, but it feels just a little like it might be.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then the world goes crazy.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s TK, who holds Carlos back when the trucks explode, on instinct, protecting him, and then they’re both at work doing what they do best.  He doesn’t catch most of what TK’s doing because he’s so involved in helping those around him, but when he emerges in his father’s arms, blood on his chest, still worried about the woman he saved, Carlos can’t help but stare at him.  It’s like nothing else exists but this man who saved a stranger's life with nothing but sheer force of will.   </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>TK’s an impressive guy.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Carlos gets a text from TK a few hours later.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I have something I have to do at the firehouse.  Meet me there after? Half hour.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’ll be there</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he types, and there’s a hopeful feeling in his chest that he holds onto. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>TK is with his dad when Carlos walks up, but he turns and walks towards Carlos, a big grin on his handsome face.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Carlos can’t remember TK ever looking this </span>
  <em>
    <span>free</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>TK’s arm is around him, and Carlos leans in, pressing a kiss to his cheek, to his neck -- breathing him in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where do you want to go?”  Carlos says, as they break apart.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Anywhere,”  TK replies, in a breath.  “Take me anywhere.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They end up driving, for a while, windows down, feeling the air on their faces.  TK tells him what he told his family -- that he’s staying, and choosing his life, for the first time.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The sky’s beautiful so they stop eventually, and lay on top of the hood, gazing up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Carlos breaks the silence eventually:  “What are you thinking?”  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m thinking...we make a pretty good team,”  TK’s words are light, and he’s smiling when Carlos looks over, and he can’t help but smile back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>We</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“We really do, don’t we.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Afraid so.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s TK who reaches out, and takes Carlos’s hand, lacing their fingers together and holding their hands to his chest, and Carlos looks from his hands to TK’s face, and it feels like they finally are in the same place -- like he finally understands.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It feels like a beginning.  </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm on <a>tumblr</a> &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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